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HARRISBURG — Lawmakers return to session Monday to face the fiscal problems they left behind a month ago before the budget hearings started. Those problems have only grown more serious during their absence from Harrisburg.

Standard & Poor’s Rating Services recently warned that Pennsylvania’s AA- credit rating could be downgraded by month’s end if the budget impasse that’s left the state with a built-in revenue deficit and a partial $23 billion budget shaped by Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto isn’t resolved.

Then the Pennsylvania School Boards Association filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court seeking immediate release of a missing Feb. 23 state subsidy payment for school districts. Wolf provided only a half year of subsidy payments to schools in the partial budget that he signed. PSBA has an underlying lawsuit seeking compensation for schools for $1 billion in total borrowing since last July.

The tensions among lawmakers were on display during a budget hearing for the Agriculture Department before the House Appropriations Committee. The hearing room was jammed with members of the Penn State Ag Council and 4-H students protesting vetoes that would have provided funding to the agricultural extension offices and 4-H programs. Penn State officials are making contingency plans to close ag extension offices if state aid isn’t provided before May 1.

Rep. Mike Carroll, D-Avoca, sparked debate by noting the combination to unlocking the budget stalemate is 102, 26 and 1 — a reference to the votes needed to pass a bill in the House and Senate and get the governor’s signature.

A final budget should address the needs of both 4-H students and students in Pittston Area School District, Carroll said.

Rep. Keith Greiner, R-Lancaster County, repeated the numbers and asked who created the crisis.

“It’s the governor who created the crisis,” he said.

The budget hearings have only served to highlight the differences between the Democratic governor and Republican-controlled Legislature and there’s no sign of any negotiations among the parties involved.

The House and Senate are in session for two weeks, followed by a week’s recess for Easter and then two weeks of session in early April before a break for campaigning before the April 26 primary.

A group of senators has introduced legislation to boost state hunting license fees for the first time in 17 years.

The bill would boost the cost of a general resident hunting license for adults to $29 from $19, a $10 increase. It would create an “ultimate outdoorsman” license at a cost of $110 for residents and $350 for nonresidents. This would cover seven different licenses and save an outdoorsman $38 compared to the cost of purchasing the licenses separately.

The measure is co-sponsored by Sen. Mario Scavello, R-Mount Pocono, chairman of the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee.

The game commission is dealing with a revenue crunch because the license prices are so out of date, Executive Director Matthew Hough said in a recent report.

As a result, the commission eliminated 28 positions, isn’t renewing contracts for 45 short-term employees and canceled a class for wildlife conservation officers. The commission is considering closing the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Lebanon County, a destination for migrating snow geese at this time of year.

The commission receives about one-third of its funding from license fees. The rest comes from a federal excise tax and revenue from the sale of timber, oil and gas on game lands.

Robert Swift is Harrisburg bureau chief for Times-Shamrock Communications newspapers. He can be reached at rswift@timesshamrock.com.

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